South Korea’s land prices contracted for the second month in a row last month amid a sharp drop in transactions, a government report has revealed.

According to the report by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the average price of land across the country declined 0.04 per cent in September from the previous month. It also said the number of transactions nosedived 35.8 per cent on-year.

The fall in the value of land follows the 0.01 per cent dip in prices reported for August, which was the first time that numbers contracted since the 0.09 per cent drop tallied in March 2009. In July, land prices remained unchanged from the month before.

It said land prices for Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which together account for half of the country’s 49 million population, all fell last month, contributing to weaker overall numbers, while those for other regions posted modest gains.